The Case for Flourishing in the Time of Wellness
Authors: Cynthia Kay, Ashley Pavlic, Leslie Ruffalo
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2023)

Ideas and OpinionsSeptember 2023The Case for Flourishing in the Time of WellnessCynthia Kay, MD, MS, Ashley Pavlic, MD, MA, and Leslie Ruffalo, PhD, MSCynthia Kay, MD, MSDepartment of Medicine, Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center and Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (C.K.), Ashley Pavlic, MD, MADepartment of Emergency Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (A.P.), and Leslie Ruffalo, PhD, MSDepartment of Family and Community Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (L.R.).Author, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/M23-0907 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail Imagine yourself as a medical student on your surgery clerkship. You're excited to scrub into a Whipple, which you've been preparing for over the past week. Then the morning of the surgery, your fellow student calls in sick. Now, you're asked to cover the other student's duties and can no longer scrub in. On the way home, you stop by a restaurant and run into the student who called in sick. The student is clearly not sick and is there with a group of friends. What do you do?That was one of the scenarios third-year medical students at a ...References1. Cherak SJ, Rosgen BK, Geddes A, et al. Wellness in medical education: definition and five domains for wellness among medical learners during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Med Educ Online. 2021;26:1917488. [PMID: 33944707] doi:10.1080/10872981.2021.1917488 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar2. The World Health Organization. Health and Well-Being. Accessed at www.who.int/data/gho/data/major-themes/health-and-well-being#:∼:text=The%20WHO%20constitution%20states%3A%20%22Healthof%20mental%20disorders%20or%20disabilities on 21 March 2023. Google Scholar3. Kirk LM. Professionalism in medicine: definitions and considerations for teaching. Proc (Bayl Univ Med Cent). 2007;20:13-16. [PMID: 17256035] doi:10.1080/08998280.2007.11928225 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. VanderWeele TJ. On the promotion of human flourishing. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017;114:8148-8156. [PMID: 28705870] doi:10.1073/pnas.1702996114 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar5. VanderWeele TJ, McNeely E, Koh HK. Reimagining health—flourishing. JAMA. 2019;321:1667-1668. [PMID: 30933213] doi:10.1001/jama.2019.3035 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar6. Butcher MR, Thompson KM, Williams MK, et al. Assessment of student perspectives on improving wellness in medical school: qualitative results from a cross-sectional survey of medical students in Florida. Adv Med Educ Pract. 2021;12:1067-1079. [PMID: 34584483] doi:10.2147/AMEP.S323332 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar7. Jennings ML, Slavin SJ. Resident wellness matters: optimizing resident education and wellness through the learning environment. Acad Med. 2015;90:1246-1250. [PMID: 26177527] doi:10.1097/ACM.0000000000000842 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar8. Stieg C. You're spending your free time wrong—here's what to do to be happier and more successful. CNBC. 6 Nov 2019. Accessed at www.cnbc.com/2019/11/06/how-successful-people-spend-leisure-time-james-wallman.html on 21 March 2023. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAuthors: Cynthia Kay, MD, MS; Ashley Pavlic, MD, MA; Leslie Ruffalo, PhD, MSAffiliations: Department of Medicine, Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center and Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (C.K.)Department of Emergency Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (A.P.)Department of Family and Community Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (L.R.).Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Department of Veterans Affairs or the U.S. government.Disclosures: Authors have reported no disclosures of interest. Forms can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M23-0907.Corresponding Author: Cynthia Kay, MD, MS, Department of Medicine, Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center & Medical College of Wisconsin, 5000 West National Avenue, Milwaukee, WI 53214; e-mail, ckay@mcw.edu.Author Contributions: Conception and design: C. Kay, A. Pavlic, L. Ruffalo.Drafting of the article: C. Kay, A. Pavlic, L. Ruffalo.Critical revision for important intellectual content: C. Kay, A. Pavlic, L. Ruffalo.Final approval of the article: C. Kay, A. Pavlic, L. Ruffalo.Administrative, technical, or logistic support: C. Kay.This article was published at Annals.org on 29 August 2023. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetails Metrics Current IssueSeptember 2023Volume 176, Issue 9Page: 1257-1258KeywordsDeceptionHappinessMedical educationPsychiatry and mental healthResidency ePublished: 29 August 2023 Issue Published: September 2023 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2023 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...